Puducherry: Protesting Oppn MLAs evicted, assembly adjourned sine die in 45 mins

Puducherry, Sept 18 (PTI) The one-day session of the Puducherry Assembly was adjourned sine die on Thursday after lasting for just 45 minutes, and witnessed eviction of opposition legislators who protested against the short duration of the House.

Proceedings began with Speaker R Selvam making obituary references for prominent figures, including Pope Francis, former Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren, and former AIADMK legislator of Puducherry K Sivalokanathan.

All the members stood in silence for a couple of minutes in memory of these leaders.

However noisy scenes soon unfolded as all the opposition DMK and Congress MLAs protested by squatting on the floor near the podium, urging the Speaker to hold the session for at least 10 days, bringing the scheduled business to a halt.

While leading the protest, the Leader of the Opposition, R Siva said several issues of public importance such as lack of safe drinking water in various areas and insurance scheme for poor patients should be discussed. He said it was indeed a sorry state of affairs that the AINRC-led NDA government was skipping several issues and was holding the session for a very brief period.

Earlier, Independent member G Nehru alias Kuppusamy rushed to the well of the House and raised a strong protest against the members being deprived of the opportunity to raise public issues. He was also seen rushing towards Chief Minister N Rangasamy and presenting a memorandum listing various issues concerning the people.

All six DMK MLAs, two Congress legislators and Nehru squatted on the floor with their plea for holding the Assembly session for a considerable number of days.

The Speaker, however, paid rich tributes to the newly elected Vice President C P Radhakrishnan and repeatedly asked the members to return to their seats and allow the proceedings to continue.

As the members persisted with their protest, the Speaker ordered their expulsion.

A team of watch and ward staff removed DMK leader Siva and another party legislator R Senthil Kumar amidst noisy protests. All the other members of the DMK and the Congress trooped out of the House. They, however, squatted on the floor in the Members' lobby outside the Assembly Hall and carried on with their protest.

The House later passed the Puducherry Ease of Doing Business (service delivery) Bill, the Puducherry Goods and Services Tax (second Amendment) Bill, the Puducherry Municipalities (Amendment) and Puducherry Village and Commune Panchayats (Amendment) Bills and also the Puducherry Town and Country (Amendment) Bill tabled by CM Rangasamy.

The House also adopted a resolution tabled by the Chief Minister welcoming the "historic" next general GST reforms approved by the 56th GST council meeting recently.

While tabling the resolution, Rangasamy said that the House resolved to welcome and endorse the decisions of the GST Council and conveyed its deep appreciation to the Prime Minister, Union Finance Minister and also to all the members of the Council for the historic and transformative reforms.

According to the CM, the reforms would directly benefit several families, farmers, and also the middle class while strengthening the States and union Territories through sustainable revenue growth. By easing compliance, rationalising rates and reducing taxes, the reforms would make the GST regime citizen-friendly.

The Speaker adjourned the House sine die after announcing that the resolution tabled by the Chief Minister welcoming the GST reforms was adopted unanimously.

The three newly inducted nominated members V Selvam, G N S Rajasekaran and E Theeppainthan were felicitated by the Speaker before the House adjourned sine die.

The Speaker conveyed his wishes on behalf of the House to the nominated members. PTI COR SA